Governance

On 19 December Members of the Karnataka Raithara Mathu Vyaparigala Okoota (Karnataka Farmers and Traders Federation) staged a protest the government's plan to build a commercial building in the santhe maidana (market) at KR Puram. The santhe maidana has a been a market place for years now. More than 3000 traders and farmers do their regular business in this market area. Farmers and Traders take out padayatra. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent The members who were on a padayatra, were seen wearing outfits made of gunny bags. "This is something we sit on, use it as a blanket and even to pack…

The Bangalore India Against Corruption group, part of India anti-corruption movement that sprung up earlier this year in support of Anna Hazare, is conducting a support event at Freedom Park in the city, from December 27th. People gathered at Freedom Park asked that the Lokpal bill address four demands. The four demands: Lokpal to be free to investigate anyone; Lokpal to have its own investigating officers and budget, Lokpal to cover all government employees, Lokpal selection to be transparent.  India Against Corruption, Bangalore is holding a support event on Dec 27-29th at Freedom Park. Pic: Yogesh Devaraj. More pictures Pic:…

State government's Food and Civil Supplies (FCS) department has been accepting online applications for new ration cards at here. Here are some details you will need to fill online application form:-Ward number, taluk, city and district name-RR number and location code of your electricity connection (from BESCOM bills)-Personal details like address, phone number, job, DOB, number of years you have been staying in the house etc-Details of family members to be included in ration card-Total annual income of the family-Details of your LPG connection (agency name, consumer number, name of connection owner), if any. This data will be cross checked…

After Bangalore being named the top third international tourist destination by BBC's travel guide publisher Lonely Planet recently, the state tourism department is now taking steps to establish Bangalore as the gateway to South India. Launch of the Kaapi Trail with Mr. Janardhan Reddy, Mr. Anil Bhandari, Mr. Jawaid Akhtar and the officials of BIAL Pic: BIAL Tourism department in association with Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) is holding a 10-day coffee festival at BIAL for passengers from December 6-15. Passengers will be treated to different coffee breeds from nine coffee growing areas in South India. Of these, five points -…

Bengaluru was about to have its first Slut Walk - rechristened 'Gejje Hejje' - on Sunday, December 4. The walk was to protest against victim blaming in cases of sexual assault, wherein women are held responsible for inviting assault by "dressing provocatively", travelling at night etc.But not only were they not allowed to hold the walk, a few who had dared to assemble at the venue were arrested by the Bengaluru police. Police had given permission for the walk earlier, but cancelled it on short notice - on Saturday night, bowing to threats from right wing groups. Pic: Navya P…

LPG (cooking gas) has a foul smell (to enable leaks to be quickly detected, for safety). The real foul smell however, now comes from the government's sordid handling of the rules on the supply of LPG to the public.While announcing the latest petrol price hike on 16 September, a proposal was also mooted for "limiting" the availability of cooking gas (LPG) to those paying income tax, owning a house or two wheeler. The plan was shelved "for the time being" due to opposition from users as well as opposition parties. On the one hand, the middle class are threatened with…

Citizens enrolling for Aadhaar (UID) card might be unwittingly sharing personal information with third party organisations in the near future. A key step of the enrollment process, is for data operators to ask for consent of the enrollees on whether they would like their personal information to be shared. However, operators are not always asking citizens for this consent. Citizen Matters observed this at the enrollment centre in Jakkasandra Government School, Koramangala. Srinivas Reddy and Anjali Devi, just after their enrolment. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi Apoorva L J, Audit Manager for Wipro which is the enrollment agency, says that the…

On November 1st, KSPCB released a guide on Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). In this exclusive interview with Citizen Matters, KSPCB Chairman A S Sadashivaiah talks about how the guide will help, and clears the air on many issues that resident associations have been raising on STP maintenance. Most apartment complexes today have their own Sewage Treatment Plant(STP). According to KSPCB rules, any large apartment (more than 5,000 sq m in the outskirts or more than 20000 sq m in core areas) need to have STPs. The new guide has illustrated explanation about the working and engineering features of STP, and…

A week after Bengaluru's police department said that the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) for Karnataka did not exist, the Home Department says that the authority does exist. It turns out that in December last year, the state government quietly setup the body through a government order. The PCA is meant to be a state-level independent authority to inquire into public complaints against police officers. On November 11, civil society group IAC (India Against Corruption), Bengaluru, had submitted a petition to the city Police Commissioner's office, demanding setting up of a PCA. Additional Commissioner of Police Suneel Kumar, who had accepted…

Last week Amulya Somashekhar, her mother Asha and a friend were charged for allegedly assaulting a Banaswadi traffic police inspector. Asha Somasekhar is a volunteer with the Bangalore chapter of India Against Corruption (IAC). Two days later, the case took a new turn with IAC getting involved in the issue. IAC, as readers will know is the organising group behind the Anna Hazare-led movement for the Jan Lokpal bill. Intervening in the matter, IAC representatives met the Additional Comissioner of Police Suneel Kumar (IPS) and gave the police department a petition for the constitution of a Police Complaints Authority. "IAC…